How I Began Wearing Vacation T-Shirts and How I Left Them Behind

I've got a bit of a fashion problem. If you know me AT ALL you know that I wear vacation t-shirts EVERY DAY during the summer months - which for me begins in late February and lasts until early December. I'm stuck you see. It started with the "fat arm gene" that runs in my family. The fashion industry decided that all womens' shirts should have "capped" sleeves. What a nightmare. Capped sleeves just magnify my "fluffy" arms. But...vacation t-shirts... now they still had the old cut to them. So I began collecting t-shirts where ever I would go. I've got them from all over the world. Mmmhmmm...I really do. Probably a total of 25 or so. Maybe more.. Next here comes the sad part, when my momma got sick, I could care less what I had on my body. Anything that was comfortable - that's what I would wear. We were at home a lot or at the hospital. Day in and day out, that's what I would put on. I didn't have to think about it. I wasn't going to dress up...it wasn't a "normal" day for us after she got cancer. We were just staying at home and being happy in the moment. Ok, so then momma died. I had to rebuild my life. My wardrobe was not in this picture at the time. But before I could catch my breath, my dad almost died. He spent over two months in the hospital and rehab and there I was again, at his bedside wearing my vacation t-shirts. Gradually daddy got better. And today he is doing quite well. But I still didn't care about what I put on. Last year I spent the year sorting things out in my mind of all the things that had happened and how they had changed me - for the good - not the bad. Now only God can do that. At the end of the day, I didn't have enough "day" left over to go out and shop. I'm not a shopping girl anyway. Really. My mother always took me and said, "That looks good. Get that," or "no, no, it has those capped sleeves." I've done a bunch of firsts in these last two years - the first time I went to Kroger after she died, the first time I went to Cothams, the first time I went to Fort Smith. And the list goes on and on.... Changing my shirt was not on my radar. It just didn't rank in the things I needed to think about. Then came Murphy Sue. She was getting older and honestly, you can think of me what you want to 'cause my self esteem is so good that I really don't care, I wouldn't leave her! I just couldn't do it. I would go to Oklahoma when I needed to, or to Monica's house (she would go with me of course) or the grocery store. But I wasn't going shopping. I would be gone maybe an hour or so and back home I went. It was a routine I got into with my mom and one I kept up - this not being gone long from the house thing. Two things happened last week: A) We actually signed the papers and sold our house! And 2) Murphy died last Thursday night. One event was joyous, the other complete sorrow. Oh how I miss her! I made it through last weekend and Monday came. I had on my new Uganda t-shirt. It was red with giraffes stitched on it. It's really cool. It's my favorite color of red and it's good quality too! Hard to find overseas. I was wearing it when I looked at my bathtub and found it horrifying! Good grief. There was that mung stuff stuck to the sides. The only thing that really works on it is . . . bleach. Now I'm not the kind of girl to mess around. When I use bleach I don't dilute it at all. Why weaken it and have to spray twice? Just blast away full strength the first time, lift the window and leave it for awhile. I don't know when it happened. I don't know how it happened. But a droplet of bleach flew up and landed on my giraffes. Oh NO! I hurriedly splashed water on it but, alas, the damage had been done. The white spot was permanent. My new vacation t-shirt was ruined. "Why don't you go shopping," Eric said looking at me over the top of his reading glasses. "We just sold the house. Take a little and buy you some new shirts." Now every other girl fantasizes about having her husband say this to her. But me? Ooooohhhhh....I hate to shop. "Go get you some shirts that don't have a destination written on them. That's your chore for the day," he said. He's always cheering me on. He tells me I'm beautiful when my face is completely broken out and my clothes are from The Great Wall of China. He really doesn't care what I look like. He just loves me. But he knew I wanted to change. He knew I needed to change - for my head, you see. I got up and got my purse/bag/thing that I got in Tibet and headed out the door. Are the capped shirts still out there? What would Stacey and Clinton do with me? Can I remember all their "rules" while I shop? What IS my style? I came home several hours later after trying on a ton of shirts and this is what I came up with: I like t-shirts (no destination), the longer ones, that have a little shape to them and scarves. Yep...scarves. The Rew girls went mad! "Look! Loooooook! Oh I do love this, Staci... You should get a scarf for every shirt you buy." It's a sorta hippie look I guess. But I like it. I'm out of my vacation t-shirts, unless you come by and I'm still in my pjs. I'm wearing them to bed at night. I can't give them up all together now can I? And so that's how I began wearing vacation t-shirts over the last 3 1/2 years and that's how I stopped.

* Top photo taken last year in Mexico. Second photo taken in Shanghai, China on one of the "biggest shopping streets in the WORLD!" two years ago - 2008. Below: The new look!